Nerpa completes its third stage of sea trials.

KHABAROVSK, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Nerpa nuclear attack submarine, damaged in a fatal accident during tests in November last year, successfully completed the third stage of sea trials, the governor of the Khabarovsk Territory said on Wednesday.

“The submarine is in a good state of readiness and there is confidence that it will be commissioned on time,” Vyacheslav Shport said.

The vessel resumed sea trials on July 10 in the Sea of Japan following extensive repairs.

On November 8, 2008, while the Nerpa was undergoing sea trials, its onboard fire suppression system activated, releasing a deadly gas into the sleeping quarters. Three crewmembers and 17 shipyard workers were killed. There were 208 people, 81 of them submariners, onboard the vessel at the time.

Following the repairs, which cost an estimated 1.9 billion rubles ($60 million), the submarine was cleared for final sea trials before being commissioned with the Russian Navy, and will be leased to the Indian Navy by the end of 2009 under the name INS Chakra.

India reportedly paid $650 million for a 10-year lease of the 12,000-ton K-152 Nerpa, an Akula II class nuclear-powered attack submarine.

Akula II class vessels are considered the quietest and deadliest of all Russian nuclear-powered attack submarines.

and the Hindu states that

Russian submarine completes trials

Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW: Russia’s nuclear attack submarine, to be leased to India, has successfully completed crucial sea trials, a senior Russian official said.

Governor of Khabarovsk Region Vyacheslav Shport said the Nerpa submarine had been put through the third stage of sea trials and was ready for delivery.

“The submarine is in a good state of readiness and there is confidence that it will be commissioned on time,” he was quoted by agencies as saying on Wednesday.

Accident

Sea trials were halted last November after 20 seamen were killed in an accidental discharge of poisonous fire-fighting gas.

Onboard training

An Indian Navy crew will now take part in the acceptance trials off the Russian Far Eastern coast. Indian submariners will also undergo onboard training to familiarise themselves with the operation of the submarine.

A Russian defence industry source said earlier this month that the Nerpa submarine would be handed over to the Indian Navy in March-April 2010.

10-year lease

India reportedly paid $650 million for a 10-year lease of the 12,000-ton Nerpa, considered the quietest and deadliest of all Russian nuclear-powered attack submarines.

He may be wrong in that aspect but do not call it DDM sensationalism. The other points he raise are very valid. The state of our lvl 1 and lvl 2 trainers are deplorable so its the delivery of the Hawks (HAL or BAE is at fault).

And it is also true about the slow procurement process. This is perhaps more important than the MRCA deal and yet because its not that fancy no one is really pushing for acquiring primary trainers.

the point is that when credit is due to HAL for the Sitara (which by the way, was completed from start to prototype, within 36 months, a real achievement for ANY company), he will instead talk about the crashes, as if its a piece of junk, when from all reports, its quite to the contrary. the Sitara is a big step up from the Kiran Mk.2 that is currently being used as Stage 2 trainer. to date he hasn’t covered or written anything about it, and when he does, its bile- but has written about Boeing’s production line for the P-8 while travelling to Renton WA, on Boeing’s money.

he’d said some 2 months ago that he was going to write something about the Tejas, but nothing so far. and I’m glad, because his viewpoint is so heavily prejudiced against HAL/ADA and DRDO, that anything he writes will be vitriolic. his is truly a case of “ghar ki murgi daal barabar”.

INS Kochi launched

very neat looking !

The facts are that currently India has the second largest populace in the world. Therefore, it stands to reason that they would have a very large army, much like the Chinese. If the UN pays for feeding and deploying a relatively large percentage of those troops, well then you must applaud that for it’s sensibility from the Indian side.:p

India needn’t contribute the highest number of troops. the UN doesn’t force it to, India does it out of its own volition. its not like if the UN didn’t pay for these troops that India couldn’t afford to keep them in service, so the UN is NOT doing India a favour by paying them for deployment. and your suggestion that just because India has a large population implies that it needs a large army is flawed to say the least. its the region in which India lies- take a look at the size of China’s army or Pakistan’s army. PLAAF is much larger, so why can’t they contribute more troops to the UN instead of India ?

below is from a book by Lt. Col Sathish Nambiar “For the Honour of India: A History of Indian Peacekeeping”

The book derives its title from the motto chosen for independent India’s first UN peacekeeping operation, the Custodian Force in Korea, 1953-54. Ever since gaining Independence in 1947, India’s unreserved participation in UN and regional peacekeeping operations has been both spontaneous and enthusiastic.

To date, about 100,000 Indian personnel have served in 43 such operations including all operations undertaken in Africa. The fact that, as of 31 March 2009, 130 Indian peacekeepers have given their lives in UN peacekeeping operations alone, underlines more than anything else the Indian commitment to the primary objective set out in the UN Charter, viz., to ‘maintain international peace and security’. Indian peacekeeping participation has evolved from its idealistic origins during the Nehruvian era to the present where it is inextricably linked to the furtherance of India’s national security interests.

😀

2 Rafales with AESA are due to appear in India for flight trials in September

article link

The planned order for two Rafales brought forward as part of a defense stimulus plan by the French government will have only a small impact on production, Edelstenne said. “We’re happy to have them but it’s not much,” he said.

The early order for two aircraft was intended to maintain flow on the assembly line as Dassault needs a minimum production rate of one Rafale per month.

The stimulus package also includes spending on feasibility studies, which are important for maintenance of competences, Edelstenne said. Talks are going on for these studies, he said.

Negotiations for the next order of a batch of Rafales are currently under way. “The DGA has set a target of making the order this year.” Edelstenne said he was confident the order would be made as “the DGA is a very determined player.”

Dassault will send two Rafales equipped with the new generation active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars for flight trials to India in September, the head of military aircraft, Eric Trappier said.

“India is a marathon, not a sprint,” he said, referring to India’s international tender for 126 medium range multi-role combat aircraft.

In a separate, long-awaited deal for the Indian Air Force, Thales is negotiating for a $1.4 billion modernization contract for 51 Mirage 2000-H aircraft. French industry, led by Thales, would handle the upgrade of the initial four Mirages, with the first two in France, and the latter two at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.’s facilities in India, a Thales spokeswoman said.

Dassault is taking part in three fighter competitions: Brazil, India and Switzerland, and is waiting for news on possible orders from Libya and United Arab Emirates. Privately, Dassault executives are keeping fingers crossed on Abu Dhabi announcing a buy of 60 Rafales at the Dubai Air Show in November.

The guy who writes the Trishul Blog, should stick to being an Indian Defence Analyst. The guy tries to be knowledgable on Chinese and Pakistan weapons.

Well I would hope that he would leave Indian weapons alone as well, because he fibs and lies in articles on Indian defence as well..best ignored.

What interests me is that very few third world airforces have any serious SEAD/DEAD capability. An exception comes to mind in the Mirages of the Pakistan Air Force armed with Braziliam mar-1s. Darn, thats DEAD not SEAD. I doubt even China has competent dedicated SEAD aircraft yet.

nonsense..the IAF has been operating ARMs for a long time now, including Matra ARMAT (on the Mirage-2000s), Kh-25MP (on the MiG-27 since late 1980s), Kh-29 and Kh-31A and Kh-31Ps..they ordered some 60 Kh-31A and 90 Kh-31Ps in 2001 for the Su-30MKIs..

see here where a Su-30MKI is firing it and here where it is being loaded onto a Su-30MKI and here is a Kh-25 on a Su-30MKI and here it is lined up in front of a MiG-27

and the Su-30MKI itself is a far more potent and dangerous platform, with excellent self-defense capability, than an upgraded ROSE Mirage armed with MARS-1 missiles that have only recently been purchased. the Su-30MKI can carry upto 6 Kh-31A/Ps.

In addition to these, the IAF also has 40 IAI Harpy drones (per SIPRI) that can loiter over a battlefield and then attack any radar that illuminates itself.